Joel tells us that’s the song he’s working on. Referring of course to the old story about how if you turn up the heat a degree at time, the frog won’t jump out of the water until it’s too late. And it feels like that’s where we’re headed.
We're talking today about James Cone and Cornell West. We remember the many Wednesdays we met at Tom’s restaurant and James Cone would be in the back booth waiting for Cornell West and Dr. West would stop on the way back to talk with us awhile. For both of them, blackness is a concept bigger than skin color. Dr. West talks for example about “..brown and white sisters and brothers discovering their inner blackness.”I remember teaching Dr. Cone’s Black Theology to my theology students in Newark and how hard it was for many white and even some Black students to come to terms with a “Black Jesus.”
Dr. Cone was one of the first to challenge the idea there was anything like a pure theology. What we were taught was a theology that was always a culture informed Western European white theology. I worked hard to teachstudents that all theology is contextual and that they need to be able to identify and understand their own culture (in the broadest sense)and context to be able to create their own theology. We see theology through our lens of American individualism. The Old Testament prophets, on the other hand, critiqued the religion of seeing God only within their own group. In scripture, there is alway a tension between the individual and the group.
Joel grew up with what he referred to as “trickle down theology,” that is if you save individual souls, they’ll do the right thing and all society will benefit.A spiritual version of Reaganomics. Steve P reminds us of Jesus’ blood trickling down. And then reminds us of Erich Fromm’s concept of social narcissism where the self disappears into the mob which it sees as its greater self. For Dr. Cone, blackness is a mentality. A way of living in an oppressive society. And the essence of Black theology is to allow the brokenness of the body of the Black Jesus to be our inspiration.Brokenness can be the pathway to healing for both individual and society.
(As to what is seen, Archbishop Tutu reportedly said “if you were arrested for being a Christian, wouldthere be enough evidence to convict you?”)
There seems to be a sense that self-hatred plays a role in the attraction of the mob, or authoritarian leaders. How will we behave under dictatorship? Clyde recalls Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia and theatre. I think of the role of the church in East Germany during the DDR days.
(How do you sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? Rehearse.)
Joel likes the wheat and tares parable.That we are all both. And that relationship means valuing the relationship over being right.
Steve P reminds us that the two great commandments go together. Love your neighbor as your self. And that only those who love themselves can truly love their neighbor. People who love themselves don’t join mobs or follow dictators. We speak of Martha and Mary and Jesus saying that Mary had chosen the better part when Martha complained. Steve P argues that Martha should have come to sit and study as a student as well. I agree, but Jesus should have said, Let's all do the dishes so Martha can join us. (All tautologies are useless. By definition, he says.) Then repeats that we need hope, and that if hope has an object, it is not absolute.He sees the story of the father and son in Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyoyic speculative fiction novel The Road as dramatic example of the kind of hope he is talking about.
As the water gets ever hotter, our weekly conversations nurture the hope within us.
open fridge
As I walk the Upper West Side, I see another Open Fridge for free food.
Joel and Carrie’s weekly Wednesday night Gluey Zoomy Show in its own whimsical way brings its own rays of hope as it reminds us that we are the glue that keeps each other together through these times.
It is a struggle getting to church. Trying to avoid at all
costs a cough or sneeze either of which result in serious pain. Very happy to
see the smiling face of Dion walking down the street to help me out. I won’t be
alone. Walk up Amsterdam to go into Barney Greengrass and pick up an iced
coffee. The steps are a mess. One of the
sisters is there with all their worldlies.And there’s a sleeping figure in a wheel chair. After I look closer, I
know it can’t be Sean because he has one leg while Sean has none. Forgive me
for saying this, but my first feeling is,the way I feel right now, I’m leaving this for the Koreans to
deal with.
Soon enough Leila and Pat K have arrived as well . And John
R has arrived for one more Sunday of music. So we will have church. Back in the Sanctuary
for the first time since Antigona.
I discover hitting high notes hurts as well. The
congregation will need to take charge of its own singing.
Much on my mind today.
It’s the 60th anniversary of the death of Emmet
Till…lynched at age 14. And it is the 10th anniversary of Katrina.
So what’s at stake today in our scriptures? Jesus is in
conflict with the Pharisees again. Much to do about hand washing. We know all
about hand washing. Sanitizers are everywhere. We carry mini-sanitizers in our
purses and pockets. We worry about germs. Think about even one subway pole on a
hot summer day…I remember Good Shepherd Faith’s Maundy Thursday hand
washingritual in place of foot washing.
So much more in tune with our present
urban reality. Some of us won’t shake hands. Prefer fist bumps. Some churches
have stopped praticing intinction.
(The way we do communion…)We take our shoes off at peoples’ doors. But sanitation
is not what is being discussed here. It’s
ritual purity. Holiness.
We don’t talk much or think much about that. But what are
our holiness codes? The unwritten
rules of NYC liberal upper west side culture? Our equivalent of handwashing? What
boxes do we check off? Political
correctness? Do we carry righteous bags
to Whole Foods?
More importantly, how do we define unclean? As the Presbyterian Outlook asked this week, more than who
hasn’t washed their hands, the question is who would we not want to bold our hands? Or our children’s? And what
do we do with that information?
Jesus, in language more graphic than our NRSV, says that it’s what comes out from us that matters more than what comes
into us and that it is the content of
our heart that determines that.
James has his word to say as well.
We should be….quick to
listen, slow to speak, slow to anger …(and we might add slow to hit the
send/post/tweet button… email and social media, the devil’s tool….)
We are to be doers….not
just hearers… of the WORD. how to say
that and not sound obvious or didactic? Again he gets specific…. to care for
orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the
world….
Who are our widows and orphans? What does it really mean to care for them?
And how do we remain unstained by the world?
James compares us to those who look in a mirror and then forget
what they see…although I’m not so sure that’s us…I feel for many of us, we look in the mirror and struggle…and
wonder how we measure up…I don’t detect much selfrightouesness when I look out here at our gathered community…
But it does get to the questionI posed earlier in the week…what
do others see when they see us? If Christian
or righteous or holy were defined by what others see in
us, what would that definition be? And I believe that the honest answer would
be something mixed, good and bad…ultimately human…
So how far is what people see from who we really are? And as we
sit here today, are there 3 things you could do to narrow the gap? I think one
of the greatest compliments paid is when someone says he/she is who the appear
to be…authentic.
(Later
my friend Pastor Steve will call me out on that one..Donald
Trump is authentic, he will say, but
is that enough? Where do values,
community values, fit in? What good is it if you’re authentic….and a jerk?...And I will respond by recalling how when my
son Nate went to Seattle U, a Jesuit school, they said to us parents that their
goal was not that their students
beCatholics or even Christian but that
they be authentic…in the context of a
community committed to building a more just, humane and sustainable world..
and Steve nodded, we agreed…authentic
is not enough…)
Doers
of the word…another anniversary…50 years ago, Martin
Luther King, Jr. visited the southern Presbyterian conference center
Montreat…his visit made some traditional southern Presbyterians nervous, if not
outright offended. I’m pleased that this week over 1000 people gathered at
Montreat to talk about “the unfinished agenda”….and I enjoyed the steady stream
of tweets I received …and the wrestling going on…certainly to be righteous
today requires us to seriously
wrestle with the unfinished agenda,
the racial divide in our country…
And last Wednesday there was an eclectic gathering in my
neighborhood… at First Corinthian Baptist Church… speakers included Christian
Cornell West and communist Carl Dix, ….parents of children who have died by
police violence and activists and Baptists …all trying to make a plan to raise
a voice that cannot be ignored..and our own Presbyterian friend Stephen who ‘s
with us this morning boldly declared that God is angriest when we’re told to
wake up and we roll over….(well, that was my version..pretty close, Steve?)
I actually find myself thinking of Michael Jackson…yes, really,
do you remember this?
I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you want to make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a
change
Amen….
And when I ask John to play something for our
offertory, John immediately responds with, of course, the man jn the mirror…
Session meets to discuss a proposal for rental
of our sanctuary on Sunday mornings. Are we ready to make that move? Jamie has visions of how sacred the chapel could be. If
it were reserved for sacred use only.And there will be budget issues to face,not only practical but philosophical. Missional, to use a term I generally don’t like.
The meeting ends as the pain begins to set in
once more. I’ve made it through.
and one with Dion....
EPISTLE JAMES 1:17-27
17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from
above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation
or shadow due to change.18In
fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that
we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to
anger;20for your
anger does not produce God's righteousness.21Therefore rid yourselves
of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the
implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
22But be doers of the word,
and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.23For if any are hearers of
the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;24for they look at
themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.25But those who look into
the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who
forget but doers who act-they will be
blessed in their doing.
26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues
but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.27Religion that is pure and
undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to
care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by
the world.
GOSPEL
MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from
Jerusalem gathered around him,2they noticed that some of his
disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.3(For the Pharisees, and
all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus
observing the tradition of the elders;4and
they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are
also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and
bronze kettles.)5So
the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live
according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"6He
said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is
written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me;7in vain do they
worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'8You abandon the
commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to
me, all of you, and understand:15there
is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that
come out are what defile."
21"For it is from within,
from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft,
murder,22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness,
envy, slander, pride, folly.23All
these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."
I’m surprised to find a
young man inside a refrigerator box asleep on the steps. That hasn’t happened
in awhile. And behind him I see crutches. Sorry, but you’re going to have to
leave…services coming up…
Uh, it’ll take a few
minutes, OK?
Uh, yeah, sure. I ask
Stephen S to see if he needs help getting it together.
Jeremy’s first Sunday
back. He’s warming up and getting ready. Russ is first to arrive after our adventures
yesterday passing out fliers for West-Park at the Avakian-West dialogue.
Our first hymn is Joyful,
Joyful We Adore Thee, aka Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, to which Jeremy adds a little
Eric Burdon and the Animals We Gotta Get Out of this Place. (….It
actually does work, though we sing it
straight…and a nod to Eddie and the
Otters for that idea, though that’s another story…https://www.facebook.com/eddieandtheotters)
Jeremy has worked out a
sung response to our Psalm 123: To you O Lord we
lift our eyes.
Our reflection scripture
is Judges 4: 1-7. Just a teaser on the story of Deborah. One of those places
where the lectionary cops out. So I have us do a readers’ theatre of the rest
of the story.
I was originally going to
stick with Matthew, but when I heard about their discussion last week about the
difference in perspective between men and women, I knew I had to use a rare
story that was driven by a woman’s agency.
This was the time of the
Judges. The confederation of tribes had leaders who were both adjudicators and
military leaders. She wants to take on (and take out) Jabin, King of the Canaanites. (Who were
indigenous to the land, by the way…) Her commander Barak is hesitant to go
without Deborah, so she agrees to go, only she warns Barak that Sisera, Jabin’s
general, will fall to a woman.
Sisera’s army is routed.
He flees to the tent of Jael, whose people are allied with Sisera. After
calming him and giving him milk to relax, when he falls asleep, she drives a
tent peg through his head. And when Barak arrives, she shows him what she did.
This is clearly an FX/HBO
style story. Mature audiences…Language,
violence, sexual situations…shifting alliances like the houses in Game of Thrones, or the gangs in Sons of Anarchy. As Marsha reminds us in
community organizing, there are no
permanent friends, no permanent enemies…
Russraises the issue that what we’re dealing with
here is the myth of redemptive violence,
biblically based. Our American culture is saturated with it. (See above). Even
in the dialogue between Avakian and West, neither spoke definitively on the
violence issue. And the tu quoque
argument about the violence of the empire gets us nowhere.
Marsha likes that Jael’s
action is direct and to the point. John R says, That’s reality…God is not the kindly grandfather, God is just God, the
Bible is what it is.
And for Jeremy, that’s why
he chooses not to rely on the Bible. And Russ speaks to how these stories
become the mythic narrative that supports what is.
There are a number of
points to make.
1.We all have a hermeneutic, an interpretive key by which we interpret
everything else. What Cornell West said yesterday for him, IE, God is love,that
goes for me too. Anything doesn’t make sense through that lens has to be
witnessed against. As former Riverside pastor Brad Braxton once said, sometimes
we are called on to preach against the text. We are called to witness against,
create an alternative to a culture of redemptive violence.
2.The time of judges was a time pre-monarchy. In a time of
covenant based confederacy, the emergence of a woman’s leadership is much
easier than in a hierarchical monarchy.
3.Which is why historically, women’s leadership would emerge in
horizontally based church structures while vertical hierarchies have been more
resistant to change.
4.We need to be about the work of creating communities of covenant
relationship, committed to love that is effective, not sentimental and resist
the culture of redemptive violence. Our own embodiments of the beloved
community to which we are called.
Our final song of the day
is Soon and very Soon…While we are
singing, Pastor Kadisha has entered the sanctuary with his daughter. He joins
us for our final circle of blessing, with little Xavier joyfully singing Amen.
Jeremy rocks out with one
more Beethoven/Burdon riff…
Pastor Kadisha will have
his first service here this afternoon.
The Revcoms are upstairs celebrating yesterday's turn out, over 1500 at Riverside Church.
Russ and I go to lunch to talk about the
upcoming dialoguebetween Bob Avakian
and Cornell West at Riverside Church. The dialogue between revolutionary
Christianity and Revolutionary Communism. ( An effort to establish BA as a
public intellectual. The dialogue with Cornell West giving a sense of public
legitimacy ) Seems like a perfect time to invite those who are interested in
this dialogue to come to West-Park to work on creating a community inspired by
that dialogue. A place to explore radical spirituality, radical discipleship.
I’m going to work of putting this into words. Making the invitation.
Karen is playing her music. And has a
contractor friend who wants to look into the pigeon tower clean up project.
The Revolutionary Communists are busy as worker
bees using Mc Alpin as their command central as they work on getting the word
out about the dialogue. A real dedicated and highly organized cadre.
Tom Bo is in and we’re working on the music for the
November 23rd Sunday concert and service. He’s got a new poem
inspired by the Matthew 25 theme that comes on Christ the King/Reign of Christ
Sunday. By the same young poet who wrote the Prophecy from the Refrigerator Box
poem. And the music is emerging.
Finally get to talk with Jeremy and the Seed
group about their experience with Marissa’s memorial service. How they had been
called and asked to help organize something. Their presence as a community in
aspiritual setting inspired the call.
Jeremy’s theatre experience in theatre gave him confidence in organizing a
liturgy. And the Grotowski experience helped see the deeper connections. And
the group saw an opportunity to serve. Their own unique practice gave them the
opportunity for others to actually participate through movement and song in the
memorial. To be physically and spiritually engaged. I explained that this was
liturgy. Mario had said that these songs have a purpose. And the group had
discovered their purpose.
Two members were part of religious communities,
one Episcopalian, the other Unitarian. I talked about the liturgical
significance of the popcorn and prosecco eucharist and their breaking of bread
following the service, which was a service to the gathered community. And the offerings
of music and word that so many brought. And my interest in nurturing new communities of spiritual practice. And how
they are becoming one.
One woman said that she was surprised that a
church would open itself up for this kind of event by a group not members of the
church. And at no charge. And that when I said, that’s why we are here, all of
a sudden she realized, I am affiliated here. I am part of this. This is my
(spiritual) home. Heads nodded in agreement. And I spoke of my desire to create
a community of communities. And that nearly 1200 people from around the world
had read about Marissa’s memorial.
